Uh, Tampons?
by annnabeth
Summary: Percy, being the clueless son of the sea god he is, has no idea why Annabeth has been acting weird all day.


**This headcanon has been bouncing around in my head for a pretty long time now, and I crack up every time I think about it. Also pretend camp lasts just a little bit longer than canon. Please let me know how this is, I feel like this one wasn't as good as my others are.**

* * *

Percy Jackson was having a completely normal and routine morning. He got up, somewhat made his bed, got dressed and left his cabin. Like every morning, he walked across the common to get to Cabin 6 to say good morning to Annabeth, his girlfriend of 2 weeks, and walk her to breakfast. This part of his morning was his favorite. Consistent, peaceful, and no monsters. He kicked a little pebble and it flew a short distance in the grass, lying a few feet away. He kicked it again, and again, and again, and before he knew it, he was standing in front of the Athena cabin.

The consistency of his morning broke when Annabeth was nowhere to be seen. She was always standing on the porch of her cabin ready to go. This morning, the porch was unoccupied, and the cabin was quiet.

Percy's eyebrows knit together, and he looked around. He concluded she must have just been running a little late, so he stepped onto the porch and took a seat. He froze when he heard voices coming from inside the cabin. Normally, he would've been fine by it, but these voices sounded kind of pissed off. He recognized his girlfriend's voice right off the bat.

"...I can't believe I ruined them, I always keep track so this doesn't happen!"

"Listen to me, it happens to everyone. No one is as organized as you." This voice Percy recognized as Cristina, one of Annabeth's sisters.

"I guess these last few weeks I haven't kept a calendar," Annabeth muttered.

"Well, there is the situation of Percy. He's probably kept you distracted," giggled Cristina.

"Shut up, everything hurts."

Percy walked up to the door and knocked, not wanting to eavesdrop anymore. Annabeth opened the door. She was dressed, but she looked frazzled. She smiled at Percy and told him she'd be just a second. She turned into the cabin and Cristina came out and sat in the chair in the porch.

"Is everything okay?" Percy half-whispered.

Cristina had a confused look on her face for a moment, then threw her head back in laughter. Percy must have looked really startled because she just started laughing more. By the time she stopped, Percy felt _really_ uncomfortable and just wanted Annabeth out here already.

"Everything's fine, Percy," she said.

Percy nodded, still feeling pretty stupid when Annabeth stepped outside and smiled at him. He gave her one of his signature troublemaker smiles, and the started down to the dining pavilion hand in hand.

Percy grabbed his usual of a blueberry bagel. He went to grab Annabeth's favorite for her, a banana and a yogurt, when she snapped, "I can do it myself, Percy."

He looked over at her, taken aback by the harshness of her words. He raised his hands in mock surrender, and let her grab her food. They went to sit together at the Poseidon table and Annabeth put her head on his shoulder. He stroked her hair and wondered what was up with her. Annabeth softly muttered an apology.

Sure, before they'd begun dating, they had been close, but never this close. They trained together every day and spent maybe 2 day's free time together per week. Now they spent meals, training, and free time together almost every day. Percy had really never seen her like this. Almost immediately, Annabeth returned to her normal self. Percy pushed it out of his mind for the remainder of breakfast.

After training, Annabeth said she needed to go talk to one of the Hermes girls. Percy stood around, utterly confused. He didn't know what was happening with Annabeth; she never talked to this girl, and Percy was still wondering what happened in the Athena cabin this morning.

Annabeth walked back holding a plastic bag. Judging by this super weird morning, Percy wasn't sure he wanted to ask what was in it.

"Everything good?" he asked her.

Annabeth gave him a sort of quizzical look. "Everything's fine, why?"

"Oh, no reason." Percy was really confused now. He didn't know how to found out what was happening. On second thought...

 _Oh, no,_ he thought. _I can't be_ that _desperate._

He was.

* * *

Annabeth insisted on going back to her cabin after lunch, so Percy casually-not-so-casually traipsed down to the Aphrodite cabin to find... Drew Tanaka. He shuddered at the thought, but he didn't know another way.

He walked up and knocked on the door. A short girl with braces and pigtails opened the door.

"Hey, Lacey. Is... uh... Drew around?" Percy muttered.

Little Lacey almost did a double take when he asked for Drew.

"Uhh... yeah, she's just in here," Lacey said. "Drew!" she called over her shoulder.

" _What_ do you want... Oh! Hey, Percy," Drew ended flirtatiously.

"Uh, hey, Drew... can I, uh... ask you something?" Percy rubbed his neck sheepishly.

Drew opened the door of the cabin wider and ushered Percy in. He looked around, noticing the small differences now that Drew was head counselor. The bunk area of each camper was less personalized, and the cabin lacked its usual peppiness.

"So, what did you want to ask me?" Drew asked, a little too teasingly for his liking.

"Uh, it's about Annabeth," he added quickly.

Drew looked a little disappointed, but she nodded at him to go on.

"Well," and he dove into the details, including what he overheard and how Annabeth was acting, down to the plastic bag that she got from one of the Stolls. Drew got slowly more amused as the story went on, and she started laughing when it became evident that he had no clue what was going on. Percy, startled, stopped and stared at her. Drew waved him on, laughing too hard for words. When he finished, he asked, "So, what do you think was in the bag?"

Drew looked at him like the answer was the most obvious in the world.

"Tampons."

Percy stared at her blankly, a blush rising rapidly to his face. He looked down, clearly embarrassed that he hadn't known that.

"Uh, tampons?"

Drew started giggling again.

"You've never had to deal with a girlfriend on her period, have you?" she said.

Percy shook his head, blushing hard.

"Well, she's going to be moody, in pain, and probably a little bloated for a few more days. Each girl is affected differently by her period, though. Those are just the most common side effects." Drew explained.

Percy was very clearly flustered, so he cut her short. "How do I cheer her up?" he asked.

Drew smiled coyly and leaned in, like it was a big secret.

"Chocolate."

* * *

Percy walked to the Athena table at dinner holding a little package, eyes following him. He reached Annabeth and put the box in her lap, planting a soft kiss on her cheek.

He whispered a sweet message in her ear before walking back to the Poseidon table.

Later that night, they walked slowly to the amphitheater for a campfire and Annabeth leaned in.

"Chocolate? Really?"

Percy blushed and chuckled nervously.

"How'd you figure it out? I wouldn't expect a dense son of Poseidon to put two and two together," she said.

"I, uh, didn't," Percy muttered sheepishly.

Annabeth looked over at him warily, studying the look on his face before coming to what seemed like a conclusion. Her face bloomed into hysterics, and she doubled over laughing. Her shoulders shook and she came back up, her hand clutching her stomach. Through giggles she said, "You—went to—Drew—for help?" After a few more seconds of laughing, she sobered up and straightened her back, coming up to face Percy.

Percy nodded his head, his face red with embarrassment. Annabeth went up on her tiptoes and pressed a kiss to his lips, smiling all the while.

"That is the single sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me," she joked, giggling.

Percy smiled down at her and stopped walking, having reached Cabin 6. Annabeth hugged him and muttered a thank you against his chest.

The door burst open suddenly, Cristina peeking her head out.

"Did he figure it out?" she asked, out of breath.

Annabeth laughed and fished around in her pocket. She found what she was looking for and tossed a golden drachma into Cristina's open hands.

Percy, realizing he'd been bet against by his own girlfriend, burst, "Hey!"

Both the girls started laughing and Annabeth placed one final kiss on Percy's cheek before walking inside her cabin. Percy smiled, obviously having done something right.


End file.
